


Isn't It Strange

by saphthicc



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Future, M/M, Suicide Attempt, despite what the warning tags make it sound like, it's actually, themes of depression cw, tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:46:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26400619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saphthicc/pseuds/saphthicc
Summary: Arthur was prophesied to come back when Albion’s need was greatest, but now all that is left of Albion is Merlin. And Merlin has never needed someone more.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 137





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I’m ignoring that last scene in Diamond of the Day where Merlin is old n stuff because that’s boring and lame. He’s immortal and magical, I’m certain he has the power to make himself continually look/feel young. Credit to my two very lovely friends Big Ass McFucking Moth and Cryptid With Bangs for answering my silly questions as I worked, and to Lizard Queen for her read-throughs and help. Also to @shutupmerlin on tumblr for the post that inspired this fic out of the blue.  
> TW: Attempted suicide, depressive themes  
> I think this technically belongs under mature bc of the prologue

It had been so long since the days of Camelot. Merlin had stopped counting centuries ago. He honestly had tried to move on, really he had. There was so much to learn and figure out as time progressed, that sometimes he almost felt he like it worked. Tonight was not one of those nights.

He had arrived home after work at the bookshop-even wizards needed something to do in the day- that, at least, he remembered. Some time after that he arose from a fugue at the edge of the lake of Avalon, miles away from his flat in Bath, tears still wet on his cheeks. A raw feeling hung in his throat and an emptiness in his heart. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered how many times he would show up here, even after swearing to leave it behind. 

“Please, Arthur,” he croaked. “I don’t have anyone else. I’ve been alone for so long. Albion is gone. I just want…”

He trailed off. He scooped water from the lake into his hands and watched it trickle back to where it came from. Merlin didn’t know how long he sat there, or what time it was. The starlight glittered overhead, but it had been a long time since he had used the stars to guide his way. Doing things like that reminded him too much of a time long past. Something set in his mind, he wasn’t sure when, but he knew why. He was tired. He neatly removed his sneakers and his socks. He folded his red bandana. 

“I’m sorry, Arthur.”

Merlin waded into the lake. It rose to his knees, soaking his pants, then his shirt, then his neck, until he was submerged. He couldn’t trick his brain into letting go of the air in his lungs, so he let himself sink, waiting it out. Natural panic pushed through, urging him to swim upward, to breathe air, but he ignored it, ignored it as long as he could, until blackness skirted his vision and his lungs burned and his thoughts were fading. A spasm wracked his body, and he involuntarily let the air go, breathing in water, choking in it, coughing and spluttering without any sound. The darkness at the corners of his eyes closed in, and the last thing he felt was arms wrapping around his nigh-limp body.


	2. We Begin Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm supposed to put in chapter summaries??? Oh hell no

In all honesty, Arthur had thought that he was for sure dead. He remembered Merlin holding him as he lost consciousness, dutiful to the last. But now here he was, at the bottom of some random lake, something pushing him towards the surface, and then there Merlin was, breathing in short breaths, looking nearly dead, his eyes closing, sinking down towards him. Arthur swam upwards with all his might, which was saying something, all things considered, as armor is the worst to swim with, but he had to save his idiot, didn’t he?

Arthur gasped for breath on the surface of the water. Merlin’s body was draped against his right shoulder. The night sky above him felt different somehow, everything felt different, there was something wrong with his surroundings, but he didn’t have time to worry about that. He dragged Merlin to shore, thanking his lucky stars that they weren’t too far out. Merlin plopped to the ground unceremoniously, and Arthur started pumping his chest, hoping to clear some of the water out. For a moment nothing happened, then his eyes shot open, and he was coughing, and yelling hoarsely, alive as anything. 

“You’re – you’re - ” Merlin coughed weakly again, eyes red. His lungs burned like he had swallowed a bucket of lava. “You’re here!”

“Where else would I be?” Asked Arthur, as if they didn't both know full well he'd died. He was sure he'd died. 

Merlin didn't seem to be able to respond, too busy gaping. He reached a hand up slowly and touched Arthur's face in awe. Arthur let him, gazing back in silent appreciation, the both of them unsure they weren't dreaming. 

+++

“So I did die. That was real.”

“Yes.” Merlin’s voice was hoarse, from the burning in his throat and chest, and from having to talk so long, to explain what exactly had happened and the modern world, to Arthur. The poor man was so out of his depth. Every time he saw something new, he’d jump or startle, and shout-

“What’s that?” Arthur’s eyes were wide, and he scrambled backward, away from Merlin’s Roomba that had turned on for its overnight work and was puttering around the living room. Merlin sighed. Getting Arthur to get into the car and to drive home while feeling half-dead had been hard enough, introducing him to other technology was not going to be a blast. He dearly wished he had been able to use the elevator instead of the stairs, but explaining that to Arthur in order for him to avoid the five flight trek up to his flat would have been hellish. 

“It’s a Roomba. It cleans my floors for me.” 

“Is it one of your… Machines?” Arthur wrinkled his nose in disgust.

“Yes, it is. And I’m really not the one running these things. It’s not magic. It’s technology. It runs on its own power. They made these things called batteries, which are little packets of energy, and chargers, which transfer electricity, this sort of energy thing, from the walls to whatever I need to plug in. And I have to pay a bill every month that allows me to power all this stuff.”

“Hmph.” Arthur crossed his arms and grumped, before plopping down on the weirdest chair he’d ever sat on. He had to admit, it was rather comfy. Not that he’d say it out loud to Merlin. He kept an eye on Roomba, feeling as if the loud animal would turn and attack him at any moment. He preferred his servants to be human and sentient, thank you. Speaking of which… “Make me a cup of tea, will you?”

Merlin closed his eyes and sighed. “I feel half dead. Can’t we just go to sleep? I’ve got a guest room. You can sleep there, and you can borrow a shirt or something if you need pajamas to sleep in.”

“Pa-jam-as?”

“Sleepwear.”

“Oh. Well, help me get my armor off, then, and we’ll rest.”

“Sure, but only because we’re friends. I’m not your servant anymore. We can put all this shit in the closet- armor or a cloak and your sword won’t do you much good these days.”

Friends. The word echoed in Arthur’s head. Were they still friends? Everything felt like it should be the same, but it was all different. Merlin’s insolence felt less like defiance and more just the simple truth. He had changed so much. He carried himself with quiet confidence and sadness that Arthur had never seen, or perhaps noticed, before. Arthur didn’t really know what to do about it, so he just wordlessly followed Merlin to the guest room and worked on adjusting and removing his damp armor, that he had been too confused to think about removing before. He sat down on the simplistic-looking bed as Merlin exited and came back with a thick shirt with a cape hood on it and bright patterned undergarments.

“Here’s a hoodie and boxers. They’re the only things I have that might fit you. Sleep well, Arthur,” he said, hanging up Arthur’s clothes to dry in the closet and setting the armor below it. He left after that.

Arthur didn’t even question the clothing. Merlin had probably amassed the sort of riches to have clothing that was this vibrant over the years, even if his part of the strange-looking castle they had come into was weird and tiny and oddly decorated. The house held so many knickknacks that were familiar, and yet all of the furniture was new and strange. He pulled the weird shirt over his head and switched his undergarments for the ‘boxers.’ The clothing was surprisingly comfortable, and it smelled like Merlin. Funny how so many years had passed, and Merlin still smelled the exact same- like hay and a forest after it rains. 

He laid down on the bed and drew the covers up to his chin. Everything was so comfortable. The room was the perfect temperature, his bed covers were soft and warm and light, the bed below him felt solid and supportive, but he didn’t feel settled at all. He couldn’t put a finger on what he did feel. It wasn’t very fun. He thought for a good while, trying to sleep, before suddenly realizing. Out of place. 

This wasn’t his home, it wasn’t even the hard rock and dirt of a forest, it was a strange bed, in an entirely new world, that he knew absolutely nothing about. He was completely powerless, his life in Merlin’s hands. Not that he didn’t trust such gentle hands to take care of him, but this was all a bit different from being the king of Camelot. Merlin had even said that the current king-no, queen-didn’t hold much executive power and that they lived in a ‘democratic country run by the people, of sorts.’ Arthur didn’t really know how to feel about that. 

Also, the name of the town they were in was Bath. What kind of idiot names a town after the act of getting yourself clean? It was so loud here. He could hear the sounds of the city outside his window. How was one supposed to sleep with all the noise? Arthur grunted out loud, before throwing the covers off and standing up. He wanted Merlin. He sat back down on the bed. Merlin wasn’t his servant anymore, and what could he do anyway? He stood up. Merlin was his friend and therefore should comfort him. He sat back down. Comfort from Merlin would mean admitting to Merlin that he needed comfort. He stood up again, and walked out into the hallway, only to realize he had no idea where Merlin slept. There was no antechamber here for him to stay in, nor could he fetch him from Gaius’ chambers. Obviously. He should have thought of this. He looked down the dark hallway. It opened into the living room, and there were three doors other than his. None of them were any different from each other, oddly enough. Where were the double doors, signifying the master bedroom? Had that sort of thing been done away with? Why?

He opened the door to his right. In the darkness, he could make out three very strange structures, all white, menacing in the minimal light coming from the window in his room. He didn’t trust the ‘light switches,’ as Merlin called them, not to burn his fingers off or leave some sort of magical residue, so, having determined that while he didn’t know what this room was, it wasn’t Merlin’s bedroom, he closed the door without bothering to turn on the light. The next room, also on the right, opened into a room built like his, but with far more decoration, and there was Merlin sleeping. For a moment, Arthur hesitated. Merlin looked so peaceful. He didn’t think he’d seen the man look that unstressed… ever. And then Merlin let out a loud ‘SNRK,’ and the spell was broken. Arthur walked over and shoved at his shoulder. 

“Merlin, wake up.” He shook for another moment or two before Merlin jolted awake mid-snore.

“I’M NOT MERLIN I’M INNOCENT I SWEAR!” Merlin looked at Arthur with wild eyes, then relaxed enough to rub his throat in pain from the yelling. “What’d you wake me up for?” He checked a weird light with numbers beside his bed. “I’ve only been asleep for thirty minutes, if that. What could you possibly want?”

His anger dissolved Arthur’s resolve, and when he opened his mouth, he couldn’t get the words he wanted to out. “Where’s the bathroom?” Coward.

“The bathr-“ Merlin’s eyes flashed in the moonlight, and he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Shit, I’ve got to explain a toilet and sink to you now, haven’t I. Come on.” He pushed the covers off, and it was then that Arthur realized Merlin was half-naked, only wearing a pair of a similar type of undergarments as the ones he’d given to Arthur. He averted his eyes.

“Why did you say you weren’t Merlin?” He asked, mostly to distract him from the way Merlin’s chest, which was more well-built than he remembered, looked in the light from the window. 

“I’ve been living for centuries, Arthur. I don’t really want the government to know there’s an immortal running around Somerset, so once every 70 or so years I pretend to die and I bequeath everything to my ‘adult son’, which is just me with a new name. These days I’m going by Maddox.”

Merlin brought him back to the weird room he had been in earlier and flipped on the light. “That’s the tub and shower, I’ll show you how to get it working tomorrow. Here’s the toilet-“ he lifted the lid of one of the strange structures to show a large white bowl with still water, “-if you’ll just push this lever on the side down to flush it when you’re done, please. Here’s the sink, if you turn the right knob you can wash your hands. Soap’s in that little dispenser, just push the top down and put your hand under it and scrub. I’m going back to bed. Turn the bathroom light off when you leave.” He turned to leave, rubbing his eyes.

Arthur felt a bit put out, standing on the cold stone floor. At least, he thought it was stone. It didn’t look it, but it felt like it, somewhat. 

“Wait, Merlin-“ The words froze in his throat as Merlin turned to look at him. He paused. “Stay, please.” His voice was quiet.

“While you take a piss?” Merlin snorted. “No thanks.”

“No, I mean- nevermind.” Arthur cut himself off, purposely this time. Frustration contorted his face, and Merlin’s own softened.

“Oh. I can wait outside, if you want.”

“That… That would be nice.” He had to shove the words out.

And then he was alone in the weirdly bright room. 

Merlin stood outside the door and yawned, and then winced. He was so tired, and his throat still burned, making breathing hurt. It was quiet for a while, and then the sound of the toilet flushing, and a yell. He guessed Arthur was figuring out what flushing was. There was silence for a weirdly long amount of time, and then the sink turned on. Another yell, and a weird thumping noise, as if Arthur had hit the wall. Merlin, hoping Arthur had already pulled his pants back up, cautiously opened the door. Arthur was stricken against the bathroom closet door, staring in awe at the sink running. 

“How in the world-?” He turned to look at Merlin. “What the hell - and with the ‘toilet’-the water-“

“Yeah, it comes out by itself. No pumping. It isn’t bewitched or anything, if that’s what you think. Pro’lly should have warned you.”

“No, it’s fine, and I believe you, it’s just..” Arthur reached his hand out and dipped it into the stream of water, letting it spill over. “It’s like a miniature waterfall.”

Merlin laughed just a little, coughing halfway through. “You can control the temperature of the water, too. Try turning on the left knob instead of the right.”

Arthur did so and stuck his hand under the water again. “It’s the same.”

“Wash your hands and wait just a second.”

“Oh, that’s hot!” 

“Well I told you, didn’t I?” Merlin grinned at him, and Arthur grinned back, just a little. 

Arthur played with the water some more for a moment, testing different temperatures and watching it flow.

“Y’know,” said Merlin. “I pay a bill for the water, too. It costs a bit these days, the more you run the water.”

Arthur got the picture and turned the faucet off reluctantly. 

There was a quiet silence in the absence of the water running that slowly filled the room. Merlin coughed and rubbed his throat. 

“Don’t you have a spell or something to ease that pain?” Arthur frowned. “Surely with your, er, magic.” The olive branch was awkward but honest. Merlin appreciated it, and it wasn't a bad idea at all. He nodded.

“I’ve still got a good storage of spellbooks I kept from Gaius in the study that might have something for it. Thanks, I don't know why I hadn't thought of that.” Merlin turned and headed to the unopened door on the hallway, and Arthur followed hesitantly.

The study looked more familiar than anything else in Merlin’s house; sturdy wooden furniture, simplistic shelves, a window high up against the wall to let in light against the desk. The only thing he didn’t recognize was a silver metal rectangle sitting dead center on the desk. Solid metal like that must have been expensive.

Merlin started shuffling through the shelves, muttering to himself as he worked. Finally, he pulled a book off and flipped through the pages until he reached what he was looking for. He muttered something, and his eyes flashed gold. His face filled with relief after a moment, and he seemed to let go of tension.

“Better?”

“Better.”

They both shifted a little.

“What’s that?” Arthur pointed at the computer on the desk.

Merlin grinned. “It’s a laptop. I can do all sorts of things on it; go on the internet, do some writing, play games, some other stuff.”

“The internet?”

“They’ve got this whole system that accesses any information you want, you can look up all sorts of things, read books on it, it’s useful.”

“That’s something, isn’t it.”

“Sure is.” A pause again. 

“The changes get to me, too, you know. I lived through it all happening, and I still don’t like the noises of the city, or using Google to look something up instead of my own library, or texting people with my phone- it’s a little version of the computer, makes long-distance talking easier,” said Merlin.

“Is there anywhere that’s not loud?”

“There’s plenty of open country. I’ve got a house an hour or two out from here I used to live in, open forests and woodlands. It felt more like home, but it was lonely. Nothing to distract me.” Merlin refused to look Arthur in the eyes.

“You’ve been alone this whole time?” Arthur almost looked sad, but Merlin decided it must have been a trick of the light.

“Not at first. Queen Guinevere and the others, we grieved you together. But everyone dies eventually. I’ve made friends over the years, and lost plenty, too. I’ve got some people I know these days, but no one too close.” 

Arthur thought about that. Once upon a time, he’d thought they would grow old together. He was afraid to ask if that would still occur. He went for a more pressing question, instead. 

“And everyone else is gone?” His voice came out strangled.

Merlin looked at the floor again. He was quiet when he spoke again. “Yes. Everyone else is gone.”

There was another moment of silence, both of them suddenly and keenly feeling the loss; Merlin having never quite ridden himself of it, and Arthur having had no time to try. 

“Well,” Merlin clapped his hands together, “We should probably head back to bed. It’s in the early hours of the morning now.”

“Right, right. Sleeping.” Arthur nodded a little too vigorously. “That.”

Merlin smiled awkwardly. “I know it’s all a lot.”

“You can’t make it quieter?”

“What, the noises outside? How am I supposed to make the whole city quieter, Dollophead?”

“Magic? A hat?”

Merlin sighed. “Right. I’ll get on that. You want to try and sleep on your own, withou-“

“No,” Arthur said immediately. 

Merlin stared at Arthur. Arthur stared back with a fierce look. “No, I don’t want to sleep on my own.”

“I meant without my help, trying to find a spell or something. It’s too late to be doing that for tonight,” Merlin said.

“Oh.”

Silence.

“You can stay in my room, if you want,” Merlin offered hesitantly.

“And what, you sleep on the floor? That’d be good, yeah.”

Merlin frowned. “I’m not sleeping on the floor when there’s a perfectly good bed that I own.”

“Well, I’m not sharing.”

“Then sleep in the guest room.”

Arthur frowned. This wasn’t going how he wanted it to. He knew he’d need to let go of his pride if he wanted help. It was just like when he had stayed with Guinevere. He felt a wave of grief wash over him.

“Okay. I’ll sleep on the floor.” He gritted his teeth. “’M sorry.”

Merlin raised an eyebrow. “What was that? Did I just hear the crowned King himself apologize? Wonders never cease!”

“Shut up, Merlin.”

“We can share the bed, if you don’t want to sleep on the floor, your Highness,” Merlin laughed. 

“I’d.. be alright with that.”

“Good, because that’s the best you’re getting.”


	3. Merlin's Independence

Frenetic beeping filled Merlin’s ears hours later. He reached across the bed and slapped the screen of his phone, turning off his alarm. Arms wrapped tighter around him, and a groan came from behind. Merlin twisted as best he could, coming almost face to face with Arthur, asleep, holding him against him. He suddenly became all too aware of a leg draped over his.

Merlin scrambled to release himself, falling off the bed in the process and hitting the floor with a thud. Arthur woke up then, sitting up with concern on his face.

“What are you doing on the floor?”

“Oh, you know. Tripped coming out of bed.”

“Idiot.”

“Sure, sure.” Merlin stood up and dusted himself off. “You want some breakfast?”

“Absolutely.” Arthur rubbed sleep from his eyes and a hand through his hair. He yawned. “How long did we sleep for?”

“Probably only four or so hours. It’s early, I’ve got work.”

“Work?”

“I own a bar.”

“Oh, still spending all your days at the tavern?”

“You’re hilarious. I was off doing magic stuff and keeping you from dying, thanks very much, not going for a quick drink. You don’t even know how many times I saved your sorry ass, and I’d come back to get thrown in the stocks or called an alcoholic.”

That shut Arthur up. It was cathartic to say it out loud, but it felt a bit mean, so he turned away to grab a button-down to throw over himself. He looked back at Arthur, face softer this time. “You need clothes. And probably a phone. Toiletries.” He sighed. “I’m gonna call in, let the store manager know I won’t be coming in today to help her run the place. If you need a change of clothes, see if you can find a hoodie and shorts that will fit you, I’ll be right back.”

Merlin grabbed a tiny rectangle box from off his nightstand and left the room, leaving Arthur trying to process what all had just been said to him, and the way Merlin looked with boxers and his brightly patterned shirt hanging open. He shook his head and turned to look at the dresser against the wall. It was in the same sort of style a wardrobe from his time would be, which was comforting. He opened the top drawer and looked inside. Plain, unicolor shirts reminiscent of what he was used to on Merlin, along with multiple bright t-shirts with strange patterns, like the strangely buttoned shirt he had just watched Merlin put on. The drawer below it held pants and multiple garments that looked like pants but were ridiculously short. He didn’t know if the patterns or the short pants were weirder. 

He opened another drawer to reveal more of these ‘boxers’ like the ones they had been wearing, of all sorts of shapes and colors. He quickly closed that drawer. The fourth drawer revealed bandanas, red and blue, and a collection of socks, most of which were also weirdly pattern or bright, or both. Arthur snorted. The scarves, at least, were familiar. Some things never changed. The fifth and final drawer opened up and had more of the hoodies like the one he was wearing. He saw a deep red one without pockets and grabbed it immediately. Pockets in a shirt seemed a bit ridiculous. 

Arthur pulled off his previous night’s wear and tugged on the red hoodie. It was a bit tighter than the soft blue one, but well worn and comfortable enough. He wasn’t really sure if he’d be able to get any of the pants to fit, which was frustrating. He opened the pants drawer again for a look. Most of the pants seemed to get smaller as they went down the leg. Arthur wasn’t really sure what to make of that. The short pants, however, seemed like they would be loose enough on Merlin to fit approximately on him. He looked at his options. Two were light shades of orange, one was green, two were a darker blue rough material, three were tan with a ridiculous amount of pockets, and one was black. Arthur decided one of the blue ones would be his best bet, and grabbed those.

Merlin had just finished calling to let Penny, his closest friend and underling manager for his bar, know he wasn’t coming in, that an emergency had come up. He started frying onions and sliced bell peppers on the stove, and turned around to get a glass of water when Arthur emerged from his room. Merlin looked him up and down. It was strange to see him wearing modern clothes, definitely, but that wasn’t what caught his eye. It was the jean shorts, tight against legs much thicker than Merlin’s. It had been a long time since he had been reminded just how nice Arthur’s legs were. 

Merlin had long ago accepted his sexuality, even when the world was still figuring out that sort of thing was okay. He had loved Arthur, fiercely, with everything in him, and it was hard to prevent those feelings from rushing back. Arthur loved Guinevere. He was going to need time to grieve for her, since he hadn’t had the time all those years ago. Merlin had always wondered if part of Arthur cared for him, too, but now wasn’t the time to check. He tore his eyes away from Arthur’s shorts and met his eyes. 

“Clothes fit well enough?” Merlin asked.

“Close enough.”

“Cool. I’m making some eggs scrambled for breakfast, and then we’re going to go out to the shops to get you some new things.”

Arthur shrugged. “I could use some things that fit, yeah.” 

Merlin cracked eggs into the pan and stirred them around, mixing everything up. 

“You can sit down anywhere, you know. There’s the stools at the counter, and the couch, and my nice armchair over there.”

Arthur grunted in response and sat on a stool at the island. “Do you need any help?”

Merlin paused in his work and looked at Arthur strangely. “No, I’m okay, it’s just eggs. I mean," he paused, "I guess you could grab the plates out of that cabinet-“ he pointed, “-and glasses from there.” He pointed to a different cabinet. Arthur stood up and fetched them dutifully, brushing past Merlin. He could have sworn he felt a little shock as he placed his hand on Merlin’s shoulder to walk behind him. He set the things he’d grabbed onto the counter and sat back down, before studying the dishes he had grabbed. They were made of un-colored glass, plain and simplistic. But why would you make dishes out of glass? It seemed like they’d be so fragile.

He decided not to question it. “Is the sink- is it like the one in the bathroom?”

“Yeah, you can use it to fill your glass, but there’s a water purifier on the fridge that you can use, too,” Merlin said.

“A what?”

“Never mind. You can use the sink just like you can in the bathroom. Right tap’s got cold water. Could you fill mine, too, and then bring me your plate? Eggs are almost ready.” 

“Yeah.”

Arthur filled up the glasses and his plate, and then sat down for the third time. Merlin passed him a fork and grabbed his own plate. He turned off the heat, dumped the pan in the sink, and sat beside Arthur with his bounty. 

It wasn’t long before they were both finished, having both been incredibly hungry and barely tasting their food for their devouring. Merlin finished up first and put his plate in the sink.

“I’m gonna go change and grab my things. You should probably run to the bathroom before we go, I’d expect you won’t like public bathrooms much. Too high a chance of things being automatic.”

Arthur was too busy gobbling eggs to answer.

Eventually, Merlin emerged wearing his shirt fully buttoned, the tan short pants, and possibly the weirdest pair of sandals Arthur had ever seen.

“What are those on your feet?”

“Flip flops. I’ve got some for you, too, they’re probably the only thing that’ll even marginally fit. Let’s go.”

+++

“Okay, this is an elevator.”

“An elevator.”

“Yes. It takes you up and down the floors of the building.”

“How?”

“Electric pulley system.”

“I see.”

“All we have to do is push some buttons.”

“Got it.”

Merlin pushed the down button.

“Now what?”

“We wait until the doors open.”

“And pushing that button opens the doors?”

“Pushing the down button lets the elevator know there’s people on this floor that want to go down. Pushing the up button does the same, except then the elevator knows it’s going to head up.”

“The elevator can think?”

“No, it was a turn of phrase.”

“A turn of what?”

“Metaphor.”

The elevator doors dinged, and Arthur tried to hide the fact that he had been startled by the noise. One of Merlin’s neighbors walked out and passed them by. Arthur walked hesitantly in behind Merlin and stayed there.

“No, we turn to face the door, Arthur.”

“Why?”

“To see when it opens, I suppose. I don’t really know.” Merlin pushed the ground floor button and the elevator lurched. Arthur yelled. “Chill out, love, that’s just how it is. This elevator’s kind of old, so it moves weird.”

Arthur looked at him strangely, trying to distract himself from the idea of the elevator in general. “Chill… Out… Love?”

“It’s just a phrase these days. Means to calm down. People use love as a nickname for people fairly often, it doesn’t mean anything.” It meant something.

The elevator lurched again, and Arthur didn’t scream, but he did seem to hug himself against the corner of the box fairly tightly. With one final jolt, the elevator stopped, and the doors dinged and opened up.

Arthur hurried out and Merlin followed behind, looking amused. He nodded at the bellman, and then they walked back to the car park. Arthur stayed close to Merlin amongst the endless hordes of cars, feeling somewhat nervous. He had gotten the explanation and idea of cars down, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. He was starting to feel overwhelmed, and it was only the beginning of the day. Everything was different. At least in Merlin’s… flat, he called it, he was centralized. It was just him and Merlin, closed off, even if they were closed off in a strange environment. There were things that were familiar.

Here, in this stony menace-Merlin had said the structure was made of something called concrete-with all of these cars around, and people every now and then walking past, people who had lived in this strange world their whole life, he felt small and powerless. He hated that feeling. 

They reached Merlin’s car, and Merlin walked around the passenger side and opened the door for him. 

“I can open a door, Merlin,” Arthur snapped.

Merlin shrugged. “You weren’t so keen on getting in last night, especially when I had to move your chair for you to fit.”

Arthur grimaced and climbed in. He couldn’t say much about that. The seat was as strange as it was last time. He wondered if he’d ever adjust. Merlin got the car turned around and out of the car park, before heading down the road. Arthur couldn’t tell if things looked weirder during the day or not. Merlin was different, too. Arthur wasn’t sure if he was hanging around the same person he used to know. It had been hard enough finding out about his magic, and that was still fresh in his mind. This was a new man, who had lived for thousands of years now. Arthur was practically a relic of his past.

Arthur had never been good at hiding his emotions, and Merlin could see he was upset now. He wasn’t sure what to do- he knew the feeling, of being a medieval person in a modern world. But Merlin had previously had nothing but time to adjust. Arthur went from dying in the midst of a war to being in a completely new world, permanently, in what seemed like a day. 

Merlin decided to set a hand on his shoulder. 

He missed, and mostly just ended up brushing his fingers against Arthur’s arm before landing on the cup tray in the middle. He decided not to try again.

Arthur watched this fiasco, and looked at Merlin, who was very busy looking at the road. He laughed, and Merlin’s face went red. 

“Thanks, I needed that.”

“You’re welcome, I guess.”

Merlin had changed a lot. The way he spoke and sounded was so different, down to the things he said. His hair was different, as it seemed he had finally found a haircut that fit him properly, and it looked good. He held himself differently, and he was bolder. But he was still Merlin. Arthur felt more comfortable. No matter what happened, or what new things he had to deal with, Merlin had always and would always have his back. Merlin was his constant. Maybe it was that thought, maybe it was the craziness of the streets flashing by at unreasonable speeds, maybe it was just to stave off the fear and uncertainty, but Arthur put his hand over Merlin’s, still resting on the cup tray. They were friends, right? Friends could hold each other. Merlin didn’t seem to react, so Arthur assumed it was fine.

Merlin was surprised he didn’t crash. His arm jerked, but they were already turning, so it just became a bit more of a sharp turn, is all. Arthur’s right hand, ever so gently laid on top of his left, was possibly the weirdest thing that had ever happened. He supposed this modern world really could make miracles happen after all. 

“So,” said Arthur as casually as possible, “tell me about what else I missed over the years. We’ve got a bunch of new ‘technology,’ I think I’d rather learn more about that in bits at a time, but what about history? Cultural changes? I spent so many years studying that sort of thing to be prepared to be king, and now all my knowledge is out of date. Everything I know is ridiculously ancient.”

Merlin nodded, and hit his blinker. “I tried to keep track as best as I could, but there’s only so much I can study and observe, especially before widespread news was a thing. These days I can keep pretty good track of everything happening in the world with the internet, but previously it was what I heard of news from letters and gossip and the papers, and what was currently happening in the area I stayed in.

“There’s a huge world out there, Arthur. It’s so much larger than the kingdoms we once knew. Airplanes can take you where you want- we’ve got this huge globe, hundreds of thousands of miles wide, to explore. There’s the Americas, Africa, Asia, our European continent, Antarctica and the Arctic, Australia… and that’s the continents. There’s… I think close to 200 countries? And cities and towns and states in those. It’s huge. As for the history of the world… I’ve written it all down because I just can’t keep track. I’ll let you read up on it sometime, I’ve got a few personal accounts and a bit of news from others. I realized a long time ago I couldn’t remember it all myself. Our language is different from how it used to be. You wouldn’t be able to read the stuff people write now, I’ll have to teach you. There’s so many slang words now that are different from anything you’ve heard. People are more open about things, more accepting. There’s still problems, of course. Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia. All of those are just words that describe the behaviors of assholes who let themselves live in ignorance despite having the whole world’s knowledge at their fingertips.

“I’ve been everywhere, you know. Visited every country, as they formed. Some of them are gone now, some of them are a different country with the same name, some of them are the same country with a different name. It’s strange. But I always came back here. I couldn’t stay gone for long. People like tea a lot here now, by the way, it’s a whole thing. I opened a bookstore downtown with some of my savings, and once it was running well for a while and I had good management to help me run it, I opened the bar. They’re both doing well, now. I’ve got a few friends. Penny, she runs my pub. Eilidh, she runs my bookstore. I don’t get too close to anyone. They all know me as Maddox. I've saved up a bunch of money over the years, although I try not to spend too much at once. And we’re here.”

Merlin put the car in park and looked at Arthur. He seemed to be processing everything for a moment, which was understandable. He turned to look at Merlin, face filled with confusion, and Merlin waited in pensive silence as he worked to form the words.

“How do I take off this thing, again?” He asked, tugging at his seatbelt.

“Push the button, clotpole, I showed you last night.” Merlin turned the car off and unbuckled his own seatbelt, demonstrating. He opened the car door and hopped out, and Arthur came out after. They were in another stupid car park.

“These parking places look like someone tried to build a castle and gave up after the outline,” he grumbled, following Merlin down the path towards another damn elevator. Merlin laughed. It was a nice sound, and Arthur smiled. Their hands were still close together, and he felt his fingers brush against Merlin’s. 

Merlin swallowed his natural instincts. “Y’know, if you wanted to hold my hand, you could just.” He stopped himself mid-sentence, then started up again. “Well, do it.” He stretched out his fingers to intertwine with Arthur’s, and Arthur grabbed his hand.

“Shut up, Merlin.”

“Yes, sire.” Merlin grinned mockingly, and half bowed mid-stride. It was a ridiculous pose, and Arthur laughed. They were still holding hands. Merlin tried not to read into it. If it had been him, he would need a hand to hold, too. Simple as that. He pushed open the door of the mall and they walked into the chaos. The noise level rose.

“Sounds like a town square in here,” Arthur said.

“Something like that. We’re going to get you some clothes first, so follow me.”

“What else would I do?”

That sounded like a very gay sentiment to Merlin, but he was very gay, so he was biased. He knew Arthur had meant it literally more than anything else.

Arthur had not meant it only literally.

They passed a bunch of weird rooms, and Merlin steered him through the clumps of people passing in various directions on both sides of this enormous hallway. Everything was metal and glass and lights, and eventually, they came to a stop at the bottom of an enormous moving stairway.

“What the hell is this?”

“Escalator.”

“Thank you so much, Merlin, that’s really helpful.”

“It is what it looks like. Just step on, you’ll go all the way to the top, then step off.”

“It doesn’t look safe.”

“It’s fine, just watch your step getting on and off.”

“What’ll happen? Will I get sucked into it if I don’t?”

“No, you’ll be fine. It’s easy.” Merlin tugged his hand, and Arthur reluctantly followed, and tiptoed onto it, earning a weird look from a lady passing by. Arthur reminded himself not to be rude to the common folk, and then reminded himself that he was now common folk. As promised, they rode to the top and then stepped off. Arthur was still suspicious of the whole affair.

They went to the right, and finally, Merlin stopped in front of one of the open rooms. They walked in. Clothes were everywhere; hanging on the walls, hanging on stands, or circled in groups, folded on tables. Sections had rows of the same pieces of clothing hanging.

“How do they do that?” Arthur asked, gaping, following Merlin over to one of the walls.

“Which part?”

“Duplicate the shirts.”

“Oh! Machines, I think. And child labor.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry about it. What do you think of this shirt?” Merlin pulled a soft-looking grey t-shirt away from the rest of the hanging clothes with his free hand.

“It’s nice enough.”

“You’re going to try it on.”

“I am, am I?”

Merlin flashed a grin at him but didn’t respond, only walking further down the wall. He pulled another shirt out, seemingly at random, and showed it to Arthur.

“This one’s a henley. It’s kind of like the casual stuff you used to wear, it’s even brown.”

Arthur took a good look at it, and nodded. “It’s suitable.”

“Good enough for me. Hold it.”

Arthur took it from Merlin, bewildered, and followed him as they moved on, Merlin brushing his free hand through the clothes as he searched. 

This continued on for what felt like, to Arthur, hours. He expressed a strong dislike for several pieces that Merlin picked out, which helped Merlin eventually figure out that, unlike with his own sense of style over the years, Arthur was not willing to branch out. It was earthen or red tones and loose long sleeves for the Royal Ass, no matter how much Merlin wanted to stick him in a tank top and board shorts. He may have slipped one or two of his own choices into the mix in rebellion. 

Eventually, they gathered a large enough haul that Merlin decided it was about time they went to the changing rooms. They had really only gotten shirts, anyway, and they still needed to find pants, shoes, toiletries, maybe stop by the phone store, and somewhere in there get some lunch. He shuffled Arthur off to one of the open stalls and shoved him in, hanging everything up. 

“Try on everything, separate out what fits and what doesn’t, and show me the ones you like so I can get an idea of prices.”

Merlin showed him how to lock the door, and then he was gone. Arthur blinked. He wasn’t really sure what, in fact, was happening anymore. He pulled off his hoodie, which was getting rather hot, and started dutifully trying on clothes. He didn’t know how he felt about Merlin being the one to order him around.

Merlin, however, knew exactly how he felt about running Arthur in circles around his favorite clothing store in the mall. Arthur seemed to be in an okay state, mental health-wise, as of right now, just bewildered and surprised by everything, so he had decided to have some fun with it all. He hadn’t bought anything new in a while, anyway, so it was enjoyable to throw around the quite vast amounts of money he had amassed for once. Especially for Arthur. After a few minutes, Arthur emerged, wearing one of the last ones they’d grabbed. It looked exactly like a tan shirt Arthur would have worn in Camelot. Merlin had to admit it looked nice on him, but everything did, really. Best not to think about it.

Unfortunately for that plan, Merlin had betrayed himself already, because Arthur followed his instructions and kept coming out wearing the shirts they had picked out, including some of the ones Merlin had grabbed without consulting Arthur. No tank tops, unfortunately, but multiple fitted things. He looked good in olive green, as everyone does, and Merlin had found a few key pieces in the color. By the time Arthur was done, he looked bored and tired, but he had a good amount of shirts for a start to his wardrobe, and Merlin had tried not to let his thoughts stray too far into the realm of danger. They exited the store with two good-sized bags on them. 

“Are we going to have to carry these around the whole time? You don’t seem like you’re done.”

“No, it’s fine. Watch this.” Merlin winked and drew him down the hallway to the end, into a long room of what Arthur assumed were the public bathrooms. The room was empty, so Merlin held up the bags and whispered something. His eyes flashed gold again, and the two shopping bags disappeared. “Safe at home.”

Arthur frowned, unsure whether to be disappointed in Merlin for the magic or grateful about the solution. He decided he didn’t care. 

“Useful.”

“Very useful! Are you hungry?”

“Absolutely.”

“Let’s get lunch, then. Plenty of new types of food for you to try.”

Arthur groaned internally at that. He had been just fine with meat and potatoes. Merlin led him through the mall some more, until they reached a pinnacle of noise and the long hallways opened up underneath them. Arthur was being dragged to another escalator. He just accepted it this time, and they traveled slowly down.

“It’s slow going.”

“Well you can walk down it if you want.”

“No that’s quite alright,” said Arthur.

They landed, and Arthur realized the air smelled good. It smelled delicious. He looked around at the stores. They all seemed to be serving food.

“It’s like market vendors, but indoors.”

“Pretty much! What are you thinking? Do you want to try new ways to cook meat, something with noodles, something cold, a soup? There’s plenty of options.”

Arthur thought that the old ways of cooking meat were just fine. “How about soup?”

“There’s a Vietnamese place over there. We can get some pho.”

“What’s ‘fuh’?”

“It’s soup.”

“Works for me.”

Merlin walked him over to one of the vendors, ordered two beef pho soups and what sounded like ‘bubble’ tea, and paid with that little rectangular card he had used for their shirts. Arthur wasn’t sure what ‘bubba’ tea was but he was certain he’d find out. Merlin told him to go find a table while they waited, so he sat down on one of the empty metal chairs and did so. A few minutes passed and Merlin showed up with two bowl-like containers and a cup, of sorts, that held a bright brown-orange liquid with dark spots at the bottom. It looked diseased. Merlin took a sip.

“That looks poisoned.”

“It’s not, it’s delicious. The little boba that hang out at the bottom are good, they’re like gel balls, and the drink itself is very nice and sweet.”

“And the soup?”

“Here you are. Add everything from the side into the bowl, stir it up, and eat away.”

“It’s a soup I have to make myself?”

Merlin laughed. “Sort of, yeah. It’s good though, and adding that stuff in now rather than before makes it a better texture.”

Arthur added everything in, mixed it up, and took a bite. His eyes widened. “It’s flavorful.”

“Well it would be, wouldn’t it? Stuff tastes better these days. Stronger.”

“No kidding. That packs a punch.”

“Try squeezing that lime out if you want more flavor.”

“I think I’ve got plenty of it as is.” Arthur squeezed the lime into his soup.

“I can’t wait to show you Doritos.”

“What’s that?”

“There’s these things, crisps, they’re thinly sliced crunchy potato pieces, and one really bold tasting one is called a Dorito. You want flavor, you’ll get it from that, trust me.”

“I’m inchereshted,” Arthur said, his mouth full.

“Maybe I’ll buy you a bag later.” Merlin dug into his soup. “You want to try my drink? It’s called boba tea.”

“You’re sure it’s not diseased?”

“It’s perfectly safe. Very sweet.”

Arthur shrugged and took a sip, before coughing as a little ball suddenly appeared in his mouth. He spit it out into a napkin and looked at Merlin indignantly.

“You said it was safe!”

“I told you about the boba earlier!” Merlin looked back, laughing.

“You’re laughing at me!”

“Yes, your Highness, I am.” Merlin grinned, and took the drink back. “Do you want to try again?”

“No.” Arthur grabbed the cup and took a hesitant sip. He wrinkled his nose. “That’s ridiculously sweet.”

“This is actually one of the ones that’s not quite as sweet. Some of them are much more so.”

“Strange.” Arthur took another cautious sip. “I like it.”

“I thought you just said it was too sweet?”

“Shut up, Merlin.”

Merlin sighed and leaned back. “That’s nice and familiar.”

Arthur gave him a look and went back to eating his pho. 

They chatted and laughed for the rest of their lunch, with Arthur occasionally stealing sips of Merlin’s drink, disregarding the severe glances he kept getting every time. Merlin took their bowls to a trash can nearby, and then met Arthur back at their table.

“Ready to get pants and some shoes?” Merlin asked.

“I suppose I don’t have much of a choice in the matter, do I?” Said Arthur, knowing the answer.

“Not particularly. This shouldn’t take as long, though. You need less of them overall.” They walked again, before entering a store with pants everywhere. 

“Is this a shop just for pants?”

“Exactly that. All you need to do is figure out your size for this, and I’ll get you some good pairs. You want any colored pants?”

“Colored… pants?”

“Red pants, green pants, something like that.”

“And look like a jester? Absolutely not.”

Merlin frowned at him, but brushed it off. “Alright, we’ll just get you some skinny jeans to try, a couple of boot cuts as that’s more what you’re used to-actually, I think I remember your measurements.”

“It’s been a thousand years, and you remember my measurements?”

“Well, you wouldn’t let me forget them.” Merlin shrugged with a smile. “Some things just stuck in my head forever.” He thought briefly of the way Arthur laughed, and how familiar it was, before moving on. “You can just sit down outside if you want, I’ve got this part covered.”

“I’d rather stick by you.”

“Fair’s fair. Come on, then.” Merlin dragged him around the store, occasionally humming to the song playing from… somewhere in the shop, grabbing things seemingly at random, busy with his work. 

Arthur tried to distract himself with his surroundings, but they were overwhelming, so he found his attention being drawn ever back to Merlin. The way he smiled when he found something that worked, and gave a bright look back at Arthur, squeezing his hand. The way his face looked when he was concentrating, studying the little tag inside the pants, or looking around the store for something new. How soft and sweet his humming sounded. Even with everything going on around them, Merlin was the most distracting thing in his vicinity. He always had been, really, but now that he was all Arthur had left it was easier to notice. Arthur was struck by the bittersweet thought that Merlin had been his top priority for so long already, above even his sweet Gwen. Gwen. Arthur felt guilty for the thought. It had always been a bit of a guilty thought, somewhere in the back of his mind, but now that she was gone he was even more conflicted. He missed her. He missed Leon and his knights, who probably would have been able to give him some sensible advice, and possibly hit him upside the head to knock sense into him. 

Merlin pulled Arthur out of his quickly darkening thoughts by pulling him to the cashier and paying for the pants. 

“If anything doesn’t fit later, I’ll help you return it and get something better, okay?”

“Okay.” Arthur was subdued, and Merlin wondered what he’d been thinking about. 

“Time to find you some good shoes, yeah? There’s a store across from here that should have some solid boots and trainers.”

“Trainers? What am I being trained to do?”

“Nothing, trainers are a type of shoe.” 

“Why?”

“I have no idea.”

They stepped into the store.


	4. Enter Nina

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin's got a cat  
> it's what he deserves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The names noted when texting are the names that each individual has them under in their phone. What I mean by that is, Merlin has Penny as Pen in his phone, and Penny has Merlin as Mr. Boss Man in hers. Also I do not know Welsh and obviously not Common Brittonic (which is the closest approximation I have to what language Arthur and Merlin would have spoken) nor do I expect anyone else to, so when any modern person and Merlin and Arthur are all in a room together and Merlin is translating between the two of them, anything in English will be in brackets, since everything beforehand that was spoken has not been.

Having obtained a new wardrobe set, a bunch of cleaning items that Merlin called ‘toiletries,’ and thoroughly exhausted himself for the next week, Arthur leaned back on the couch back at the flat. Merlin was busy sitting beside him, taking the tags off of all of the shirts, since Arthur had already tried them all on. He turned to comment something to Arthur about going out later to find him a phone, only to find that the blonde was asleep sitting up. Merlin smiled gently, and grabbed a blanket from the basket beside the couch and covered him with it.

It was a lot to take in. Merlin knew that. Taking him shopping had been necessary, and mostly fun, but he didn’t blame Arthur for being tired. Hopefully, it didn’t mean his rest would be disturbed tonight the way it was last night, because he did have to go back to work tomorrow and he needed some good rest. He hadn’t been sleeping well lately as it was. 

His phone buzzed, and he jumped. He had been staring again. He checked it. It was from Penny. 

Pen: _Emergency here at the bar. We think there was a gas leak or something, but that new bouncer Noah said he smelled something bad right as the evening rush was coming in, and Finn said she smelled gas, too, so we evacuated. I called somebody to come in and look at it, but we’ll have to close for the night._

Mr. Boss Man: _Okay. Is everyone alright? Anything happen other than the smell? Do you need me to come in?_

Pen: _We’re all alright here. Some of the patrons were a bit grumpy about being removed, but Noah and Charlie got rid of them fairly efficiently. He may be new, but he does a good job. Works well with everyone.  
Like I said, someone’s on their way. You keep care of your own home emergency, we’re all fine here.  
I sent everyone home tho, hope that’s good_

Mr. Boss Man: _Yeah that’s ok_

Pen: _You need help w anything? You said your own thing was kinda big, you know I’ve got your back if you need it_

Mr. Boss Man: _Everything’s strange now but the dust has settled. I’ve got a good grip on everything_

Pen: _ok. See you tomorrow?_

Mr. Boss Man: _yup. I’ll meet you in the morning to talk to the gas ppl and then we’ll come back to my flat_

Merlin sighed and put his head in his hands. He let out a deep, quiet breath. Nothing to do about it now. Everyone was fine. He had the money saved in the business to pay for any fixing costs. It was frustrating that it happened right when he had splurged, but his personal account and business accounts were separate. Overall it would just be a minor setback, and hopefully, the pub wouldn’t need to be closed longer than a week. He could probably still pay shift wages for the people on the schedule to make sure they didn’t miss the pay from the days of closing, but he’d talk it out with Penny tomorrow. 

He gently folded Arthur’s new shirts and picked them up, carrying them to the laundry room that was attached to the living room, and starting a load so that Arthur could wear them tomorrow. He set the three new shoe pairs by the front door, on the shelf where his main ones that he used every day went. He sat on his armchair, and like magic, his grey tabby, Nina, appeared out of nowhere and hopped onto his lap.

“Where have you been hiding lately, darling?” Merlin said, stroking her fur. “I bet Arthur doesn’t even know you exist yet, you’ve been off who-knows-where.”

Nina only purred in response. 

“Suppose you’ll be wanting dinner soon, won’t you.”

She seemed to perk up at this, turning her big moon eyes on him expectantly. He petted her silky grey fur for a moment longer, before sighing. “Alright, alright. It’s near five anyway, and I’ve got to get started on our own dinner. I’d start teaching Arthur to cook, but he’s probably had about enough new things for the day.”

Nina meowed as if in agreement, and jumped off him, trotting over to her bowl. Merlin fetched a scoop of food from the laundry room and poured it in, and cleaned and re-filled her water bowl, and set it down. 

“Happy, Miss Priss?” 

The grey tabby did not respond, too busy chowing down.

Merlin went to the fridge and opened it, looking for dinner options. He hadn’t planned much for today. He had the soup prepared from earlier this week for his lunches at work, but he didn’t want to feed Arthur soup twice in a day. Nothing was defrosted, and he didn’t want to deal with actually cooking right now, anyway. Merlin considered his options. He could order takeout. There were a couple of cheap options in the area, and introducing Arthur to new foods provided endless entertainment. Plus, this way he wouldn’t wake Arthur up banging around the kitchen, as he was wont to do. Merlin decided to call in a pizza, and then look around the flat for one of his old phones, to let Arthur have for a little while until he had room in his monthly budget to get a phone. One money thing at a time. He stepped into the study to order and look in his tech drawer for something that would work.

Arthur woke up to a cat in his lap. That was strange, because he didn’t remember ever having a cat. He became more aware of his surroundings and realized he was on Merlin’s couch. Did Merlin have a cat? It had a collar around its neck, and Arthur was surprised to find that he could read one bit of it. Most of it was indecipherable, but in tiny letters in his language at the bottom, read ‘Nina’.

“Shoo, Nina.” Arthur light tapped her sides, pushing her gently off his lap. “Go on, shoo.” She looked offended, but she trotted off to the other side of the couch and curled up. Arthur stood up and looked around. Merlin was nowhere to be seen, but he supposed there was the rest of the tiny house to look for him in. There was a weird rattling noise coming from the closet off of the kitchen, and Arthur went to investigate. He pulled open the folding door to reveal two white boxes, the left of which seemed to be shaking. The rest of the room was basically empty, except for a small blue box with sand in it. Arthur decided that was enough of that, and closed the door.

He turned, and there was Merlin, standing in the hallway.

“You’re up,” Merlin said. 

“Didn’t mean to nap, anyway. The cat’s yours? I could read some of the tag so I assumed she belonged here.”

“Oh, that’s Nina. Real sweetheart, picky about meeting strangers. Surprised she even showed her face around here with you awake.”

“I woke up with her on my lap.”

“Really? She must like you. Anyway, I got you a phone.” Merlin waved a little square. “It’s one of the earlier generations, just a pixel two.”

“Merlin, I’m not carrying around one of those.. Things.”

“You can text me any time you like. And there’s a Welsh keyboard in the system, which is the closest approximation to the language we speak. I can teach you English with it, you can use it to talk to me even at great distances, you can take pictures of things instead of sitting for hours in front of a painter…” Merlin trailed off. “I’ll teach you how to use it.”

“There’s so much to learn. Do I really have to carry this stupid thing around?”

“Yes. If you’re going to be wandering around on your own or even going to try and get a job eventually or think about living like a normal person, you’re going to need a phone. It’s going to be hard enough to figure out your papers without being able to communicate with you. I’m going to be gone a lot, and there’s still so much you don’t know. You’re taking the damn phone, clotpole.”

Arthur grudgingly took the rectangle and looked at it. The screen was black. “Show me what to do, then.”

+++

A knock resounded on the flat’s door, and Arthur looked up from where he was learning to set up his fingerprint in the scanner. 

“What’s that?”

“Dinner’s here.” Merlin opened the door and smiled at the pizza delivery boy. “[Good evening!]”

“[Sign here, please.]” The driver handed Merlin a slip of paper and a pen. Merlin signed, taking a moment to figure out the tip, before handing it back and accepting the box.

“[Thank you! Have a good day!]”

“[You too.]” The teenager nodded and walked off, and Merlin closed the door.

“What was that?” Arthur looked offended, staring at Merlin.

“Pizza.” Merlin lifted the box. “You can order it for delivery.”

“No, no, that makes sense, somewhat. I meant what you were saying.”

“That’s English, Arthur. I told you the language is different these days. I continued to honor the old ways and practice our language, but the rest of the world has moved on.”

“That garbled nonsense is what I’ll have to learn?”

“Yup!” Merlin placed the pizza box on the counter and opened it up. He pulled out a slice. “This is just bread and cheese and tomato sauce. You’ll like it, dig in.”

Arthur wrinkled his nose at the bubbly circle, but grabbed a slice himself and ate it cautiously. It was tastier than he’d expected. He sat back down with his phone while munching, and after multiple long minutes, the system finished setting up and it opened on to a new screen.

“That’s your home screen. You can access all your apps from it. Here, let me have it for a moment.” Merlin took the phone and did something for a second, and then handed it back. “Now you can access the internet, and once I add you to my phone plan tomorrow, you can text me at any time. My contact’s there, I’ll show you how to send a text.” Merlin walked him through the steps, and by the end, Arthur’s head was swimming, but he knew how to text, what his settings were, how to access google, he had an email account, and he could talk to his personal assistant, which he for a moment thought was a woman trapped in the phone. They finished their dinner after that, Arthur quietly lost in thought and Merlin texting Penny. 

Arthur found himself reflecting deeply, for the first time, on what he had left behind. The past day had been a blur of new things, and he hadn’t gotten the chance. His subjects were the first to mind. What was he for if he had no people to protect? All his life it had been what he was raised and taught to do. Now his education was useless and his purpose gone. Gone, like everyone in his life. To him it was just a few days ago that Arthur had accepted he was going to die, had passed on his seal and legacy to Guinevere to protect. Now it was the other way around: everyone he had known and loved was dead and he and Merlin were the only survivors. He had been so prepared to lose everyone he loved, but then again he wasn’t the one who would have had to mourn. Now his turn to do so had finally come around. Had Gwen coped well? Had she been a good queen? Had his friends made it out of the war okay? He knew he could ask Merlin for the answers, but he was afraid to. 

Arthur had spent his entire kingship working to rebuild Camelot into a kingdom that would last the ages as a peaceful and just place. Clearly it hadn’t lasted the ages, but there was no guarantee he had even done any good for his kingdom at all. He had wanted to give his citizenships a good future, but now they were only part of his past.

He looked at Merlin sitting quietly across from him and wondered what it had been like for him to face the struggles of losing everyone they both cared about so much, but so long ago, all alone. Arthur had taken himself by surprise at how easy it had been to accept what he had done for Arthur all these years. Merlin's final confession had been what had done it: the man had laid his life on the line for Arthur, over and over again, and still chose not to tell Arthur just so that Arthur wouldn't have to feel conflicted about what to do. The lying had been the only thing Arthur had really been bothered about it, anyway. He knew he wasn't conflicted about Merlin's magic anymore. He didn't have to be. There was no kingdom to protect, only Merlin. The end of his life had been full of betrayals, but Merlin had always stayed by his side. Even Gwen had never loved him, not as much as she had Lancelot. But Merlin he could trust. 

Thinking about Merlin was familiar, which was funny because Arthur had spent most of the earlier years of their friendship trying to avoid doing so. But there was something similar he had found, especially as of late, in the thoughts he had about Merlin and the thoughts he’d had about Gwen in their relationship. And now he finally knew him, in every way, in every world. All the times that Merlin had encouraged him, had supported him, had stood by his side. They cared deeply for each other, even when they had pretended not to. Arthur wasn’t sure what to make of that idea. 

“Are you alright?” Merlin was looking at him, concerned, and Arthur was broken out of his reverie.

“I was thinking about Camelot.” Arthur’s voice was low, his eyes downturned.

“Is there anything I can do?”

“I’m just glad you’re here.” Arthur looked up and smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Merlin nodded in understanding, and they sat together in quiet knowing silence.

It was awhile after when Merlin spoke again. “My friend, Penny, the one who helps run my bar, she’ll be coming over tomorrow. We have to look at some stuff and figure some things out because we’ve got to fix something in the building. Will you be okay when she comes? She and I can meet somewhere else if you need some time alone.”

“No, that’s alright. I’ll just spend some time studying.”

“Okay. After Pen and I are done, I can show you some sports you might like. Rugby’s really popular around here, it’d be just your sort of thing.”

Arthur blinked. “Is sword fighting still around?”

“Actually, yeah, though it’s less common. I bet we could find an event somewhere near.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Arthur clapped Merlin on the shoulder.

+++

Arthur woke up to the sound of commotion and voices, and he groaned. Merlin had warned him Penny would come back to the flat today, but Arthur had expected to be up and awake by the time it happened. He rolled out of bed and threw on one of his new shirts and some pants and wandered into the living room, much to Penny’s surprise.

Merlin had to struggle not to drool, seeing Arthur freshly awoken, looking disheveled and sleepy but trying not to. His blonde hair was a tousled mess and his pants were half-buttoned, and it was adorable. 

“[Penny, this is the emergency I was telling you about. His name’s Arthur.]”

Arthur caught his name amongst everything else and waved.

“[Hey, Arthur, nice to meet you!]” Penny smiled and reached her hand out to shake, which Arthur took and shook in a firm grip.

“[He doesn’t speak a lick of English, so he can’t understand you. Family friend, needed a place to stay. He’s Welsh.]” Merlin turned to Arthur. “I’m telling her you’re a family friend. We’re gonna go to the study and look over some stuff. If you want to grab some books and study history or practice your English in there, you’re welcome to.”

Arthur nodded and looked at Penny. She had a stern and professional look to her, with black kinky hair in a deep side part that let most of her hair flow free, crisply shaped pants, and a kind expression. Gorgeous brown eyes stared back into his, and she inclined her head to him politely.

“Sure, that sounds good.”

The three of them went into Merlin’s office, and Merlin pointed Arthur to a shelf. “There should be some good stuff on there, but everything in here’s labeled, and you’re welcome to it all.” He turned and gestured to Penny, and they sat at his desk and got to work.

Arthur ignored their chatter and stared at the shelves of books. The shelf he was looking at was all things he could read, but the more books he looked at the less he found to be in his language. He finally settled on one far more well-worn, with gold lettering on the front that read, ‘Life after the Castle’ and under it in smaller writing, ‘Emrys’. It seemed to be one of multiple in a series that stretched over a large time period, but this was the most promising. He sat down on the floor by the shelf to read, calm and safe in the peacefulness of the early afternoon. 

It was several hours later, after Merlin had already bid Penny goodbye and they had both moved to the couch, that Arthur realized he was reading from Merlin’s perspective. The tales had started seemingly only a few months after Arthur himself had died, and it was Merlin’s nostalgic tale about an adventure they had gone on together that had helped Arthur connect the dots.

They had been running from bandits while scouting for more information for Uther, and Arthur had been shot in the back with an arrow. It seemed there was more to the tale than Merlin had told him then, and for good reason.

‘I thought Arthur would die that day and was distraught at the thought that even my magic was of no use to him. Taliesin saved his life, and in his same breaths cursed mine. While Arthur was unconscious he brought me to the Crystal Cave, showing me visions that sparked events I wish I could take back. I made many mistakes that led to the death of Arthur at the hands of Mordred, that I regret deeply, but sometimes I wonder if that which I saw in those crystals did not spark the events that eventually came to follow. If maybe I had done differently by Morgana, or by Mordred, and instead faced Uther as the real enemy for what he was, then things would have turned out differently. There is no way to know now, all I have left is to wait for Arthur’s return.’

Arthur remembered that day well. Merlin had been off; commanding, distracted. It was the first time he had seen Merlin take charge in the way he did all the time now, and it had been both confusing and pleasing to Arthur. No wonder he had acted so strangely. Arthur was left with many questions, but at least he knew what happened with the arrow- after all, Merlin had said it hadn’t pierced his armor, but he had discovered later due to a hole in his armor it quite clearly had. He had always wondered about that one. He looked at Merlin, papers in his lap, a focused look on his face, and felt a renewed sense of curiosity about all of the things he had missed out on in Merlin’s personality. He had loved his father dearly, but the cost of his father’s rulings had been a life fully knowing the bravery and kindness of the man before him.

Merlin looked up and caught his gaze. “What is it?”

“Just thinking.”

“Alright, then, dollophead.” Merlin smiled and went back to his work. 

“Dollophead?” Arthur looked offended, and whacked Merlin upside the head. “How dare you!”

Merlin shrugged. “Easily, actually. I need a break from this work. You want to see what Rugby is?”

Arthur blinked. What a change of subject. 

“Sure, I suppose.”

Merlin went to the office and brought back his computer. Arthur watched with curiosity as he pulled up a video of a game.

“These are real people?”

“Captured on video, yeah.”

“Captured? Why don’t we rescue them?”

“No, they’re not- not literally. It just means someone recorded this moving picture of them playing.”

“How does that work?”

“Cameras, I suppose. I don’t really know the technology behind it.”

“Cameras?”

“Just watch the video, Arthur.”

And so they did.


	5. Trauma and Mischief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> drunk shenanigans

_“You did this to me!” Morgana cried, pushing her hand at him and sending him flying into a wall. “You deserve this, for abandoning me to my fate, for lying to me, for driving me over the edge until I had no one left!”_

_Merlin’s head lolled, his feet giving out underneath him. Pain burst through his chest and head, and every breath was painful, like he was still drowning._

_“Uther was the real evil and yet you demonized me until demon was all that was left of me! Arthur is dead because you!” Morgana’s eyes flared as she approached him and held him up by the neck._

_Merlin croaked, trying to defend himself, trying to use magic to push her off, but there was no feeling behind his efforts. He hung his head in defeat. Morgana pulled out a knife and it flashed as she drove it into his chest with a cry of triumph._

The same cry, echoing with desperation and fear, still echoed on his lips when he jolted awake, shaken and sweaty. He was safe in his home. Merlin bent his head into his hands and shook with tears.

With a bang, his door burst open, and there was Arthur, sword in hand, wearing only a nightshirt and boxers, eyes wild. He looked about to say something, only to come upon the broken sight of Merlin, face pale and eyes red, and nothing else. Arthur put down the sword.

“I thought there was an intruder.” He crossed over to the bed and sat beside Merlin, who, unable to think of anything else, leaned into Arthur’s side. His breath came out in ragged gasps, slowly steadying themselves after the effects of the dream subsided.

They sat there quietly for many minutes, Merlin still trying to pull his thoughts together, Arthur unsure of what else he could do. 

“I’m so used to being alone when this happens.” Merlin finally said quietly. “I didn’t mean to disturb your sleep.”

“I’d rather be here than sleeping, if.. If you needed me.” Arthur’s voice was just as soft in return.

“It was so hard. To face my mistakes and the things that came of it, to have the kingdom’s fate on my shoulders and be completely alone. I had hoped the nightmares would stop when you returned.” 

Arthur instinctively wrapped his arm around Merlin’s shoulder and leaned his cheek against Merlin’s head. “You’re not alone anymore. I can know what you did now. I don’t know about the nightmares, but you don’t have to face it by yourself.”

They were silent again for a few more minutes, before Arthur realized exactly what he’d done, and coughed and released Merlin. Merlin laughed weakly at this, and pulled to the side to let Arthur have more room on the bed. 

His alarm rang late that morning, and Merlin opened his eyes to discover Arthur sleeping peacefully once again by his side. The alarm’s loud ringing as Merlin fumbled for it soon woke him, though, and they sat staring at each other in the bed for a long moment.

“So, about last night..” Merlin said awkwardly, rubbing the nape of his neck.

“Let’s not mention it, shall we?” Arthur got out of bed and left the room, leaving Merlin wondering if he meant the nightmare part, the cuddling part, or the part where they had accidentally just fallen asleep again. 

To be honest, Arthur wasn’t sure which part he meant. He was happy to be there for Merlin; Merlin had always been there for him, and had spent so long alone that he deserved someone to have his back again. It wasn’t that. He tried not to think about how right it had felt to be so close to Merlin without someone dying. He tried not to think about Merlin straightening his collar and smiling, the way he used to when he was helping Arthur get dressed for ceremonies or battles. He tried to just get dressed in peace.

He thought he had done well until he emerged, cleaned and clothed, to see Merlin serving breakfast, wearing a bright red shirt and a blue scarf. He looked up and saw Arthur, and smiled hesitantly. It was enough to make Arthur’s heart stop.

“To make up for last night.”

“If you’re worried about the nightmares, don’t. I’m your friend, Merlin.” Arthur sat down and began to eat. “What are we doing today?”

“I’m going to the bookshop. I’ve got to check in on matters there today, and then I’ll be at the bar in the evening. You can text me if you need anything.”

“You’re just going to leave me here?”

“I have work, Arthur. I own two businesses, I can’t just leave them to run by themselves. Friday is always my busiest day of the week because both the store and the pub get bigger crowds.”

“Right, yeah, but what about me?”

“I’ve got a whole library’s worth of information to look at. I’m sure you can entertain yourself for the day.”

“I don’t want to be stuck inside your tiny house all day.”

“Then come with and be quiet!” Merlin pinched the bridge of his nose. It was like talking to a child. 

Arthur blinked at the outburst. He probably shouldn’t have been so stubborn about it all, but the idea of staying inside all day to read sounded frightful. And if Merlin was going to be going to his bar later tonight, then that was definitely the better option. 

“Sounds fine with me. I’ll pack a bag.”

+++

After being introduced to all of Merlin's employees-a weird thought, for Merlin to be the one with subordinates, now-Arthur had found himself relegated to the back break room. It was rather large, but it seemed to share space with their storage, so in the end it came out feeling rather closed in. Merlin had called it cozy. He supposed Merlin would enjoy a space as cramped as this. It seemed to be a running theme. He had brought more of Merlin's writings and a book Merlin had apparently made on learning English, and had been working on reading the journals from the first to the most recent. They had overviews of what Merlin remembered from his times with Arthur in Camelot, and it was strange to read things he remembered doing, not only from Merlin's perspective, but as if they had occurred forever ago. There was a good deal more bashing of his character than Arthur would have gone with. 

Despite the ribbing and complaints about his workload, Merlin's take on Arthur seemed one of an almost admiring or romantic nature, and after about an hour of slogging through it, Arthur decided he was going insane and reading into things, and moved on to the English book. His brain was swimming by the time one of Merlin's employees came in at lunchtime for break.

"[Maddox said you can't speak English. Somethin' about being from Wales. Anyway, I won't bother you too long. Just popping in for lunch.]" Nicole! That was this girl's name. She had a nice voice, but her language grated on his ears. All he had recognized was 'English' right at the very beginning. 

"[Hello, Nicole,]" Arthur said in a hesitant tone. "[I-]" he paused and glanced down at the section of his book on introductions, "[-do not speak English well.]" 

"[Ah, you're fine. Your accent's kinda cool.]" Nicole shrugged and pulled out a sandwich, eating it quickly in voracious bites before pulling out her phone. Arthur tried not to stare. She spoke fast, with that same accent Merlin seemed to have picked up, and he wondered what Merlin was working on right now. 

Merlin was quite busy, and very deeply regretting having sent Nicole on break at the time he did. She had gone into the back right when a large crowd of children, seemingly on a field trip of some kind, had popped in. Their singular chaperone seemed uninterested in keeping them in line, and there was only so many children he and Luca could keep track of at once, even with magic. Thankfully, there weren't any true disasters, and one or two even pulled out what seemed to be their savings in full to buy a book. By the time they were all gone and the shop had quieted down, Merlin needed a nap, potential property damage be damned. Nicole was off her break, so he took some paperwork to the back to work on. He had an office, but it would be nice to talk to Arthur. 

"How was Nicole?" Merlin asked cheerfully, plopping down on the only other seat. Arthur looked up from his concentration and his frown disappeared. 

"She seemed a nice girl. Couldn't really understand her, funny enough, so I wouldn't really know."

Merlin laughed, and bent his head over his work. They descended into comfortable silence for awhile.

"Merlin, these writings," Arthur paused and gestured to the two journals he had set aside, "they're all you?"

Merlin glanced at the books Arthur had brought, and his eyes widened. He got that look on his face, the guilty one, that he usually did when he was about to lie really badly, before seemingly changing his mind and slumping his tensed shoulders.

"Yeah, I wrote those, starting about fifty years after everyone else had… had passed on. I wanted to remember everything that happened, and it didn't look like I was going to be dying any time soon, so I started recounting everything I could remember. They're not the most accurate account, if you're looking for history books. More like a journal." Merlin shifted uncomfortably. 

"Yeah, I got that after a bit." 

They both nodded, and the matter was finished. 

"I need a break from my work, do you want to try practicing English while we eat lunch? I brought soup." Merlin pulled two containers out of his bag and set them on the table that sat by the wall.

"Sounds good to me."

+++

Merlin grabbed his jacket and waved goodbye to Eilidh, who had come in to close. Arthur followed him dutifully out of the bookstore.

“So, dinner?” Arthur rubbed his hands together. “I could use a good cooked pheasant and a cold tankard of mead. Or whatever the closest thing you’ve got to that is now.” 

“Chicken would be good. We can grab some to go and eat it, but at 7 I’m going to the bar.”

“I can come with you! Your tavern would be a good place to rest at.”

“I’m not sure if I trust that idea, but as long as you don’t start any fights, I’ll cover you for a few drinks.”

And so they grabbed dinner, and went to work. 

Arthur wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting when he came to the pub, but this wasn’t it. It wasn’t like a traditional tavern at all, which he supposed in hindsight he should have known was coming. The place was fairly well lit in yellow lighting, with booths lining forest green walls and small wooden tables taking up the area left between them and the bar. Something that seemed to pass for music played from nowhere, which appeared to be a regular thing in public spaces these days. 

Merlin pulled Arthur to the front and around to the counter. "[Finn, this is Arthur. You can open a tab for him under my name. He doesn't speak much English so please be patient. You're welcome to serve him last.]" He turned to Arthur. "Don't be an ass. I'll be back in four hours." 

Arthur didn't even have the time to look offended before Merlin had slipped away into the back rooms again. He turned to Finn, and squinted at her name tag. "[Hello… Vinn.]"

"[Finn. Nice to meet you.]" Finn stuck her hand across the bar to shake, and Arthur took it. 

"[Nice to meet you, too.]" Arthur spoke with a thick accent, but at least he was fairly certain he had gotten the greeting right. He sat down on one of the stools and looked at the menu. 

There was a slight problem that he had forgotten to take into account. Technically, by modern-day standards, he couldn’t read. The menu was nonsense to him. He pulled out the English book and started looking for anything in it that could help him ask for just a good tankard of ale, but found nothing. Finally giving up and hoping for the best, he waved Finn over.

“[Help?]” He pointed to the menu.

“[Can you read it at all?]” Finn frowned at him. Arthur stared back blankly. “[I guess not. Well, Maddox said it’s on his tab, so, fuck it, I guess. I’ll get you a lager to start with. Maybe Fosters?]” She walked off, leaving Arthur to wonder if he was just going to have to go without alcohol until he could figure this stupid language out.

She returned with a pint glass, and set it down in front of him. Arthur flashed her a grateful look and, hoping he remembered the wording correctly, spoke again.

“[Thank you.]”

She gave him a nod and a wink in return, then went off to serve someone else who had just arrived. Arthur took a swig of the ale. It tasted good. Delicious, actually. He didn’t know the last time he’d had a good ale. He took another drink and watched the people crowding around, chatting and laughing. It was an unfamiliar atmosphere, but a nice one. He felt comfortable here. He took another sip, and another, and soon the pint was finished. He glanced around for Finn. 

She was helping someone else, but she had just passed them a drink and seemed to be freeing up for the moment.

“[Vinn!]” Arthur waved, and she walked over. He showed her the empty glass and grinned. “[Please.]”

“[You liked that one, huh? It’s a popular one, I thought you would. Alright, I’ll refill it.]” Finn soon brought back another pint. 

This went on for the better course of two hours, and Arthur was feeling more than a little tipsy. Every time Finn had a free moment to chat, he found himself discussing his problems with her. She couldn’t understand him, anyway, and she politely listened as if she could.

“Merlin… You know, I used to think he was such a drunkard. An alc’holic, idiotic, lazy servant with a taste for getting in my way and being rather... insub- orsa- insabordint. But a part of me always knew he wasn’t like that. He’s… brave.” Arthur nodded solemnly. “And kind. And he speaks-” here he paused to think, “-he speaks up for what’s right.”

Finn couldn’t understand a word of what Arthur was staying, but she could capture just fine that he was quite drunk. Thank god she got paid enough for this. 

“He was always therrre for me. Even when I was an, an ass.” Arthur frowned. “I need to ‘pologize.”

“[If you’ll excuse me, Arthur, I’ll be right back,]” Finn smiled reassuringly at him and peddled off to serve another customer. 

Arthur grumped at the bar and nursed his drink. “My language’s… supper- no-better, anyway. Stupid English. Stupid Merlin. Where is that ninny?” He looked around, but his vision was a bit slow to catch up. “Hm. Maybe no moving for me.” 

“[Maddox?]” Finn rounded the corner from the front. “[Your friend’s up at the bar downing lagers like he’s dying tomorrow. He seems fine overall but he’s headed toward the realm of wasted.]”

Merlin cussed. “[I told him just a few.]” He stood up and looked at Penny, who he had been working over bills with. “[Will you have this handled?]”

“[Yeah, we’ve done most of it already. Go help that poor handsome bastard.]” Penny grinned at him. Merlin glared in return, but followed Finn back out to the bar. Arthur caught sight of him quickly, and positively beamed.

“Merlin!” 

Arthur stood up to greet him, and wobbled. Merlin rushed to support him.

“This is just like that time when I injured my leg,” Arthur slurred, smiling dopily at Merlin. 

“You’ve been injured a lot before, Arthur. You expect me to remember which time you’re talking about?” Merlin set his card down on the counter and smiled gratefully at Finn, who ran it and handed it back. He signed the slip- and tipped heavily, she may be his employee but she had still been dealing with Arthur all night-and hauled his friend towards the exit. Arthur, meanwhile, seemed to have forgotten what he was talking about, and was following Merlin dutifully out the door. 

"Merlin," said Arthur, as Merlin attempted to stuff him into the car, "was I a bad king? Was it not my own, my own fault that Mordred turned against me?" 

Merlin paused in bringing the seatbelt across the blonde's chest. Arthur's eyes were sad.

"No king can ever be perfect. I think you did all that you could to be a good king. You made mistakes, but for a successor to Uther you did all that you could to fix the problems he caused. I wouldn’t have wanted to serve under any other king." Arthur seemed satisfied with this response, and settled in for the car ride home. 

Getting Arthur up via elevator went easier than expected, and soon Merlin helped him into the bedroom and was able to dump him on the bed. He took off Arthur's shoes and socks and brought them to his room before returning with bedclothes. Arthur stared peacefully back at Merlin.

"Isn't my bed."

"No, it's not. It's mine, I don't trust you not to fall out of yours tonight, so you're staying here."

"Hm." Arthur fiddled with the covers.

"Do you want to try changing yourself into pajamas or are you going to need help with that, too?"

"I'll be fiiine, Merlin," Arthur said, sitting himself up and pulling his shirt off. "I'm not that drunk, just unsteady." 

Merlin snorted. He went to his dresser and grabbed his own pajama pants, changing into them while keeping an eye on Arthur, who seemed to be struggling with his jeans. 

"Y'know, Merlin, you're more decent than I ever gave you credit for."

"...Thanks?" Merlin pulled his shirt off and threw it into the laundry basket. Arthur seemed to have successfully removed his jeans, and struggled for a moment with the pants Merlin had brought. After probably too long he decided he had given up on getting any further pants back on. He turned to Merlin, who was grabbing a book off the dresser.

"I'm serious Merlin. You're a good man. I'm not a king anymore, but a knight's word is his bond, and I givve you my word that I love you," Arthur slurred.

"You what?"

"Hm? I dunno." Arthur leaned back against the headboard. "You're very handsome."

Merlin was struggling to breathe. What was all this about? Arthur got sweet when he was drunk sometimes, but these were revelations he had never heard. 

He let out a strangled, "...Thanks," before sitting himself down on the bed and burying his head in his book like it was the most interesting thing he'd ever read.

Arthur leaned against him and shut his eyes. "'S bright in here, doncha think?" Merlin looked at the light and murmured an incantation, and the switch flicked off.

"Better?"

"Much."

They sat in silence, Merlin trying not to think too hard about any of it. 

"Thanks, Merlin. You're good to me." 

Merlin opened his mouth to respond, but Arthur seemed to already have drifted away into slumber. He set the book aside, as it was no use trying to read in the dark, and tried to go to sleep himself.

+++

Arthur woke up with a slight headache and a lump under him. He cracked his eyes open to find that he was resting on Merlin's chest, the man quietly snoring against his ear. Memories of last night came flooding back, and Arthur grimaced. He sat up gently and crawled out of bed, trying not to disturb Merlin. He needed to thank him somehow, for putting up with that mess.

Breakfast seemed like the best idea, so Arthur headed to the kitchen. He looked around for something that he could use. Merlin had seemed annoyed at best, especially when Arthur had said…. It didn't bear thinking about. Whether or not it was the truth. And he had called Merlin handsome. Good lord, maybe Merlin was right after all, calling him a turnip-head all those years. Arthur opened the fridge and peeked in. Weirdly cold, and with nothing recognizable. Wonderful. The cabinets yielded nothing he could figure out, either. Perhaps breakfast had been a bad idea. He checked back in the fridge and peeked inside that brown carton he had seen earlier.

Eggs! Things were going his way after all. Arthur pulled the carton out of the fridge and closed it, before looking around. How was he to cook these?

Merlin stumbled blearily into the living room, and stared at Arthur frozen in the kitchen with his eggs. 

"What are you doing?"

"Cooking breakfast. I wanted to-" apologize? No. "-thank you for putting up with my behavior last night."

"I see. How's that going for you?"

"Perfectly well, thank you for asking," Arthur said stiffly.

"Seems like it." Merlin stifled a laugh and sat at the counter. "Need any help?"

"No, I'm doing alright."

"Pans are in the lower cabinet on the left."

"I knew that." Arthur bent down to fetch one.

"You can turn on the closest left stovetop with the far left knob."

"I get the picture, Merlin."

"Really? You looked like you needed a bit of help." Merlin propped his head up in his arms and grinned at Arthur, who only scowled back. He put the pan on the stove top and turned it on, then stared blankly at it.

Merlin stood up and grabbed butter out of the fridge. He cut a slice off and dropped it into the pan. 

"How about you let me help?" Merlin asked, already grabbing a spatula.

"I was the one supposed to be making this, so that you could rest."

"Right, but you barely knew how to cook before, much less now." Merlin cracked an egg into the pan, and then a second one. Arthur bristled at the comment, but knew he was right, so he stepped back and watched. 

"Here's the spatula, when the edges of the egg are bubbling, flip it." Merlin leaned against the counter to watch. The former king studied the eggs intensely.

"How's your head?" Merlin asked, eyeing Arthur.

"I'm doing alright, for the most part. Light's a bit bright and dizzying."

"You want some water?"

"I wouldn't say no. Do the eggs look ready to you?”

Merlin grabbed a glass and peeked at them. “Maybe another two seconds, and then flip them.” 

He set the filled water glass down on the counter right as Arthur put his spatula under one of the eggs and lifted, flipping it over without much grace. It folded over itself and the yolk broke. Arthur flipped the other egg over, and managed to make it all the way turned, but the yolk still popped. Merlin grinned.

“Not so easy, eh? They’ll be ready in a moment, I’ll grab a plate.”

“You’re an ass.”

“So kind of you to say that. Here, serve the eggs.”

Arthur deposited the eggs onto a plate, and watched as Merlin gobbled them standing up.

“Any good?”

“They’re eggs.”

“Thanks for the effort, Arthur,” Arthur said in a mocking tone, “You’re so kind, Arthur.”

Merlin rolled his eyes. “How the tables have turned.”

“Shut up, Merlin.”

Merlin laughed, and set his dish in the sink. “We’ve got all day today to ourselves. Want to help me turn you into a proper citizen in the government’s eyes with a little bit of magic?”

“That sounds boring as hell.”

“Perfect. Off we go!”


	6. Finale

They had spent the weekend preparing Arthur to be a modern citizen, and so far had a few goals in mind. Arthur was to work at Merlin’s bookstore for a while, to give him practice with a job. Merlin had created documents that he needed for citizenship, as well as a diploma, in the same way he did for himself when he had to pretend to die. Arthur was going to get a college degree at a university nearby and work his way through in order to earn money to help pay for it. After that, he would have enough education and, in theory, be fluent enough in English to hold his own.

The following days were busy for both of them because training Arthur to shelve books-he didn’t speak enough English to help any of the customers-was an ordeal when Arthur barely knew the alphabet. It was better than trying to get him to work at the bar, though. Despite being strong enough to be a bouncer, there wasn’t much Arthur could do there that wouldn’t require him to converse. Reading was easier practice, and Arthur took to it well. 

The weeks after became like clockwork, with Merlin dropping Arthur off to the bookstore, and then doing whatever work he needed to do. Arthur learned to work the stove and would help with dinner in whatever ways he could. They fell into an easy rhythm as if living together had been something they had been meant for all along. 

This weekend, however, was a bit different. Merlin had been incredibly excited to show Arthur the flier; there was a medieval fair starting Friday! They wouldn’t be able to go to the festivities then, but Merlin had set all of Saturday aside for it. There were reenactments, and there was food, and multiple tournaments, and the way Arthur’s face had lit up when he finished struggling through the flier had made Merlin feel like all of the waiting for his king had been worth it.

And now the morning had come, and Merlin was helping to dress Arthur in his old armor and chainmail, like old times. He wore an old-style blue shirt and red scarf, with a simple brown jacket. It was strange and comforting for both of them, as Merlin attached Arthur’s belt and retreated to grab his sword. Arthur reached out to get it and their hands lingered over each others' for a moment.

Arthur retracted his hand and they stood stock still until the moment was broken by Merlin clapping his hands together.

"Ready to go, then?"

"I feel like I've been ready for days." Arthur grinned and strapped his sword to his belt, and they headed out.

The fair was bright and colorful, with hundreds of tents set up across a vast lawn, and people milling everywhere in all types of dress. There were good vendors everywhere, and right up at the front, there was an exchange booth to buy coins to use all over the fair. Merlin bought a bagful and showed them to Arthur. 

"These are fake." Arthur picked one up and inspected it. "They don't even look like our coins."

"Well, they wouldn't, would they?" Said Merlin absentmindedly, tying the bag to his belt. They looked around. 

"Where do you want to try first?"

Arthur looked at the pamphlet the lady at the exchange booth had handed them. "How about the reenactment in the west part of the field? It has my name on it." He showed Merlin the event on the schedule.

"The Battle of Badon. Did we fight in a battle at Badon?"

Arthur laughed. "I don't think so, but we can check it out." 

And so they went and watched, as Arthur’s mimic led his fighters into a charge, and two sides of fighters clashed.

“You know, some of their fighting techniques aren’t half bad,” said Arthur.

“You think so?”

“Yeah, they’ve got a good bit of it down. Not enough to really last in a fight, but they’re surprisingly accurate.”

“Would you like to show them up?” Merlin’s eyes sparkled, and he showed Arthur an item that was coming up on the schedule. “There’s a sword-fighting tournament that you can sign up for now, and a jousting tournament later on.”

Arthur’s face lit up. “Where do we go for these?”

“I think there are signs that will show us this way,” Merlin said, and off they went, leaving the sounds of the battle behind them. 

Soon they came upon a tent where sign-ups for the various tournaments were occurring, and in his messy scrawl Arthur signed his name on both sheets. The two of them went over the rules.

“These tournaments are for children and cowards,” Arthur scowled. “It’s all child-proofed.”

“People make a much more distinct effort to be safe about things these days.” 

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Do you still want to enter?”

“Of course.”

They spent the time before the tournament exploring other tents, looking at various works of art, jewelry, clothing, and shows that fit with the theme. Eventually, they got hungry and went to a food tent, where Arthur indulged himself on mutton and a good old-fashioned tankard of ale. 

“This. This is good food.”

“As you say, sire,” Merlin said mockingly.

Arthur couldn’t respond, because his mouth was full. Merlin checked his watch, and his eyes widened. 

“We’ve got to finish this and head out, love, the tournament’s about to start.” 

Arthur swallowed his last few bites, took the final swig from his flagon, and Merlin dropped the coins necessary up at the front. Merlin grabbed Arthur’s hand-as they had started to do regularly-and tugged him over to the field where preparations had been taken down from the battle and the tournament was now set up. They signed in and checked that Arthur’s armor was within the regulations. Merlin took Arthur’s sword and strapped it to his own belt, and fetched one of the dulled blades given out to competitors. 

“Here,” said Merlin, handing him the sword and his scarf.

“Your scarf?”

“For good luck.”

Arthur grinned and took the two offerings, strapping the sword to his belt and tying the bandana around his arm.

“With this, I’ll surely win.”

Merlin’s ears went red, and he rushed off to the sidelines to watch the match.

The field had been split up into four matches for the beginning rounds, and Merlin drifted over to the section where Arthur was to start. He was up against a tall, stout man who grimaced at the blonde, before drawing his visor down. Arthur did the same, and when the trumpets sounded, they began to circle each other. The two tested the space between them, each looking for an opening and coming up dry. For a minute all was quiet in the ring. Then with a grunt, the man swung, and Arthur’s sword rose up to clash against it. The fight had begun in earnest.

The two clashed back and forth, pushing around the ring. Their swords rang against each other, and they pushed in close. A quick kick from Arthur’s opponent pushed Arthur away, and they went back to circling. Arthur swung back in and, with a flash of his opponent’s sword, ducked under his swing and drove his arm up, pushing the other fighter to the ground. Arthur held his sword to the man’s throat, and a judge ran into the ring. He held Arthur’s arm up, and Merlin cheered loudly, his voice soon getting lost in the cry of the crowd.

The next few matches passed with ease, Arthur winning decisive victory one after the other. Merlin couldn’t help but feel proud. As silly and pointless as these competitions were, he had missed watching Arthur destroy the competition with ease. Once or twice someone came close to him, but Arthur always managed to use one of their weaknesses to his advantage and beat them.

The competition came to its peak with the last round. The field had gone from four sections to two, and now combined into one as Arthur and the last remaining competitor faced off. They had more room to move, which would be a plus for the competitor, who had proven herself to be fast on her feet. 

The call of the horn started them off, and Merlin found himself captivated as the two circled. Both were cautious, looking out for an opening, but it was Arthur who seemed to spot one first. They came together with a ring of their swords. For a moment they clashed there with a flurry of blows, then the lady pushed Arthur back and they circled again. It became a match of wits as well as strength and speed, each trying to out-maneuver the other. It seemed to be the longest match of the day. Finally, with a cry Arthur twisted her sword away and she lost with a sword tap to her chest. The judge held his arm up in victory. 

Arthur met Merlin at the edge of the field, and Merlin helped remove his helmet and excess guards. Merlin was grinning from ear to ear, and Arthur couldn’t help but match the look.

“I knew you’d win!” congratulated Merlin, and he hugged Arthur.

Arthur stood stiffly in surprise, before patting Merlin on the back and retreating. “Thanks. That man was stiff competition.”

Merlin laughed. “Arthur, that wasn’t a guy. I saw her in between rounds with her helmet off.”

“Oh, not again-” Arthur was interrupted by the very same competition walking up and offering him a handshake. Her helmet was off, and her black hair shimmered in the light, reaching halfway down her back. Merlin wondered how she had hidden it into her helmet.

“[Congratulations on your win, sir! It was a good and fair fight. I’m Ariana.]” 

Arthur took the hand after a moment and shook it. “Merlin, is this her?”

“Yeah, it is. I can translate for you if you’d like.” Merlin turned to Ariana and smiled in greeting. “[Hi Ariana, I’m Maddox, and this is Arthur. He doesn’t speak English, but I’m happy to translate.]”

They both nodded in agreement.

“Fair lady, where did you learn to fight like that? I’ve seen few other women fight in a way such as yours,” said Arthur, and Merlin glanced at him strangely.

“[He wants to know where you learned to fight],” said Merlin blandly.

“[My father taught me when I was younger! He was a historian who worked in the restoration of medieval pieces, and he learned to fight in his own studies. I picked up the interest from him, although for me all of this is more of a hobby.]”

Merlin repeated as best he could to Arthur, who smiled widely. 

“[That’s clever!]” Arthur said, after a moment of thinking.

“[Thank you! If you’re interested, we could talk more over a few drinks, maybe with your interpreter here to help out],” said Ariana.

Merlin grumpily repeated the offer to Arthur, who blinked, before laughing. “My interpreter! Merlin, you’re my simple interpreter. Back to servantry for you.” He turned back to Ariana. “My lady, thank you for the invitation, but I’ll have to decline. I have a jousting tournament coming soon.”

Merlin relayed the information, and Ariana seemed mildly disappointed, much to his satisfaction. “[Well, it was nice to meet you.]”

“[You as well],” said Merlin, before ushering Arthur off. “You know she was asking you out, right?”

“She was doing what?” Asked Arthur in surprise. “I mean, she was a pretty noble, but I didn’t realize she was as bold as she was a good fighter.”

Merlin frowned at this and didn’t respond. 

“Did you not like her?”

“She was nice enough, I suppose.”

This was satisfactory enough to Arthur, ever the oblivious, and they headed for the jousting tournament to get him ready and rent a horse and lance. 

The jousting tournament wasn’t nearly as interesting to Merlin as the first competition had been, but he still watched Arthur with pride. The way he rode with finesse, holding his seat and bashing the competition over and over again was a sight to see. By the end of it, Arthur had attracted a good amount of attention, and it took Merlin a moment to work his way through the crowd that had surrounded Arthur to congratulate him after winning.

Arthur looked confused by the onlookers, and when he saw Merlin his face lit up.

“Merlin!” He cried, moving and grabbing Merlin. Arthur lifted him into the air and twirled him, before setting him down and holding his shoulders excitedly. “Did you see that last bout? It was such a close call, I thought I was about to lose right then and there!”

Merlin, meanwhile, though he had lost his mind, and was staring blankly back, his face bright red. 

“What was that for?”

“Shut up, Merlin.” Realization had dawned on Arthur, and he shuffled his feet.

Neither of them knew how long they would have stood there silently, were it not for the people around them, whose noise surged upon realizing that here was the person whose armband he wore to both competitions.

“Run!” Shouted Merlin, and he grabbed Arthur’s hand and pulled him. The two of them ran from the group of onlookers, sprinting through the tents until they had nearly reached the end of the hill. Merlin bent over, winded, trying to catch his breath and laugh at the same time.

“Did, you see, their faces, when we booked it?” Merlin panted.

Arthur was busy looking at Merlin with a strange expression, but Merlin pretended not to notice. He stood up and stretched. 

“Let’s get some dinner. The sun is going to set soon, and I’ve no doubt you’re hungry,” Merlin said.

“...Right.” They set off down the hill and toward the tents to find food. 

The pair was silent as they sat and waited for their food, both of them trying to pretend that they were listening to the noise of the small crowd around them. Several minutes of this awkward quiet passed before Merlin cleared his throat.

“So,” he said, having not thought of anything to actually say and now desperately wracking his brain for a topic, “that was some win.”

“Yes,” Arthur responded, a little too quickly. “It was fun.”

“Right.”

They descended into silence again. 

“You want to go look at the stars after this?”

“Why?”

“They’re having an end-of-the-night celebration thing up on the hill that we could go to. The pamphlet said they were going to set off fireworks,” Merlin said.

“What are fireworks?”

“Big blasts of light into the sky. Very pretty.”

“That sounds fine, then.” Arthur hoped very much that by that time the tension would have dispelled. 

It had not. Dinner had been a quiet affair, both of them trying their hardest to pretend like what had happened was normal, and both of them failing. They had gone up to the hill to see the fireworks anyway. Now Merlin and Arthur sat on the grass, Merlin searching the sky for constellations. They were both quiet, and Arthur felt like if he had taken a knife to the air he could cut the tension. He wondered when the fireworks were going to start.

“I wasn’t interested in that girl,” Arthur said suddenly.

“Ariana?”

“Yeah, her.”

“That’s nice.”

“I was too busy being interested in you.” The words came out in a rush.

Merlin sat up and stared into Arthur’s eyes. “What?”

“I said it once, I’m not repeating it.”

They were quiet for a moment, just staring at each other.

“Was this a date, then?”

“You always have to ruin it, don’t you Merlin?” Arthur glared at Merlin, but it was half-hearted. The smile on Merlin’s face made it hard to stay mad. “Did you want it to be?”

“No, dollophead, I just spent a bunch of money to go watch you fight all day because I thought that’d be a fun time for me.”

Arthur gaped for a moment in mock anger. Suddenly he jumped from his seat and onto Merlin, wrestling him back into the grass. 

“Think you’re funny, don’t you?”

“I do, yeah,” said Merlin, trying not to laugh as they rolled. 

Arthur ended up on top of him, legs pinning Merlin’s hips to the ground. “Who’s laughing now?”

“Still me,” said Merlin, grinning. 

Arthur wrinkled his nose and made a face at Merlin. He suddenly became acutely aware of how close the two of them were, and of Merlin’s blue eyes staring up at him. In that moment, something passed between them, and Merlin leaned up in an almost desperate move, breaking the distance between them.

The first firework shot off into the sky, jolting Arthur from the kiss, and he turned and stared at the blazing lights soaring over them. Merlin sat up and leaned against him, and they watched the show peacefully. 

+++

The next day had mostly been spent resting inside the flat. Arthur had been practicing reading in English for at least an hour now, and he felt like his brain was melting. He set the book down on Merlin’s legs, as they were blocking his lap, and turned his face to the corner of the couch where his boyfriend sat. Merlin looked up from his phone.

“I think I could be happy like this,” Arthur said.

“Are you happy now?” 

“I’m happier with you.”

And Merlin knew, in that moment, that was all he needed to hear.


End file.
